From 1992 until ~2002, my Northwestern University colleagues Louis Gomez, Daniel Edelson and our exceptional students conducted the Learning through Collaborative Visualization, or CoVis Project. "
Collaborative visualization" refers to development of scientific knowledge mediated by scientific visualization tools in a collaborative learning context. Funded by the National Science Foundation as an advanced networking testbed, our partnership of Northwestern University, Bellcore, Ameritech, the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Atmospheric Sciences Department/National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) sought to design, implement and research the promises and problems of a distributed multimedia science learning environment that used broadband desktop videoconferencing and screen sharing, scientific visualization tools and distributed datasets, virtual field trips, scientist telementoring, and a Collaboratory Notebook for enabling project-based learning of science in the high school using these distributed human and technical resources. Our project vision was to establish collaborative technology learning environments, or "collaboratories" that would enable projectenhanced science learning among remote project partners using advanced telecommunication networks. For example, our collaboration with NCSA scientists provided learners with access to subject-matter experts, visualization tools and vast databases in the field of atmospheric sciences. Virtual visits using wireless video over the Internet to Exploratorium exhibits helped motivate student questions about central scientific phenomena. ... [more]